


A Familiar Rhythm

by lady_mab



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Gen, Just gals being pals, and supporting each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:40:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25777540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_mab/pseuds/lady_mab
Summary: So Nina lets her shoulders drop, lifts a hand to fluff her hair, and that helps Inej relax. “Tell Kaz Brekker not to worry about his investment,” she says[...]“It’s not just Kaz who is worried,” Inej whispers, so softly that Nina can’t even be too sure that she hears it.(exploring Nina and Inej's friendship as they learn the steps to a new dance)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	A Familiar Rhythm

**Author's Note:**

> written for the _no mourners, no funerals_ zine! Keep an eye on [the tumblr](https://sixofcrowszine.tumblr.com/) for when the other full pieces will be posted, and for any future updates!

There’s a rhythm to Ketterdam, the same way there’s a rhythm to any city -- to any place where people are in close quarters. The Suli caravans were no different, but to Inej, the sound of home was far more lyrical than the bright brass of the city. 

The low bass of the ocean, constant and steady against the docks and the hulls of ships. The percussive clatter of the Wheel, of gold changing hands. The whispering staccato of the secrets muttered behind closed doors. The bright trumpeting of hawkers and criers on the floor of the Exchange. 

They blend together into a harmony of their own, and Inej knows how to move between it like a dancer. 

To her, Kaz is just another conductor, but the music he plays are subtler than the other bosses. When he tells her to move, she does. 

Sometimes, he just leaves the hint behind, knowing that she’ll pick it up on her own. 

For Nina, he doesn’t need to say more than three words in his grating, dissonant voice before she has already agreed to do it. 

Inej takes the contract to the brothel before the ink is even dry. She doesn’t make a sound as she slips into the building, but even if she had, it wouldn’t have been audible over the symphony of commerce. 

And just as she had snuck into those walls before to steal secrets, the Wraith enters the Sweet Shop to steal a Grisha. 

* * *

Inej is a smudge of soot against the walls of the House of the White Rose. “It is not freedom,” she reminds Nina for the tenth time in the last hour. 

“I know,” Nina says, not sure she would even know what freedom tasted like. Not really. She plumps the pillow on her bed before falling into it face first with a contented sigh. 

There is a breath from across the room, and suddenly Inej is perched on the mattress beside her. “I’m serious.” 

Nina pushes herself upright, draws herself to her full height. “I am a soldier first,” she says in Ravkan. “I know how to watch my steps.” 

Inej watches her intently, the lines of her seeming to vibrate like she will scatter to shadow at any sudden move. 

So Nina lets her shoulders drop, lifts a hand to fluff her hair, and that helps Inej relax. “Tell Kaz Brekker not to worry about his investment,” she says, switching back to Kerch. 

“It’s not just Kaz who is worried,” Inej whispers, so softly that Nina can’t even be too sure that she hears it. 

The girl is gone before she can press it, though, and Nina blinks away the disorienting sensation of the darkness vanishing. 

* * *

A person doesn’t have to be skilled at listening to secrets to know the entire situation between Kaz and Nina. 

They simply have to be within a one block radius of the Slat any time the two of them are arguing. 

After the second match, Inej stops trying to keep the peace between them. 

Kaz never raises his voice. He doesn’t have to. He speaks with a sullen evenness that makes even the most hardened criminals break. He lays out the facts (“It is a risk, it is not worth anything to me, it is leverage, you couldn’t afford it”), repeating them on a loop. The phrasing will change, to be sure, but it boils down to the same thing. 

He wants more than Nina can give him to make it worth his while. 

Nina is an actress at the best of times, but she is never at her best when she stands on the other side of Kaz’s desk. She yells, she screams in frustration, she speaks with the dangerous sharpness of a soldier. She makes promises that have no guarantee, but could make Kaz a rich man if only he could believe her. 

The problem is that Kaz does not trust anyone. 

She never uses her powers. It’s an unspoken agreement between them, a thinly veiled power imbalance. Nina could make him agree to her terms in one painfully agonizing heartbeat. 

Kaz’s retaliation might not be as quick, but it would be just as deadly. He would move the pieces of Ketterdam just so to squeeze the air from her lungs as easily as she did to him. 

So instead they rely on the common language of the Exchange, on coins and bargains.

These conversations always end the same. Nina turns on her heel and leaves. She slams every door that she can find on the way down from Kaz’s office to the street. 

Inej watches her progress from the rafters, and only waits until the chatter in the building slowly starts back up again before she moves from her perch. 

She lands with a deliberate sound in front of Kaz’s door. 

“Inej,” he will say. And then, when she doesn’t respond, “Inej get in here.” 

Once, he actually comes after her, making it down a flight and a half of stairs as she keeps the distance between them with ease. “Where are you going?” he rasps, his uneven tread echoing beneath his words. 

“Out,” she replies, hopping up onto the banister just to annoy him. 

Nina’s voice is barely audible as she talks to someone — saccharine tone barely scratched by the argument. 

Kaz puts it together quickly. “I need you for a job.” 

“I’ll do it when I get back.” 

“You’re _my_ Spider, not some guard dog.” 

Silence descends in the Slat once again, though all the other members of the Dregs studiously pretend like they’re not paying attention. 

Inej gives a derisive snort and leaps from the banister, landing neatly on the ground floor and puts the remaining flight and a half of stairs between her and Kaz.

“I’ll see you tonight,” she says, and then she’s out the door. 

* * *

The music is discordant, and each musician seems to hold their own beat. But between the laughter and the drinks, the dancers aren’t doing too well themselves. 

Nina separates herself from the crowd and half stumbles her way to the back stairs. 

The image of Inej wavers before her, though Nina isn’t too sure if it’s because of the exhaustion, the drinks, or the shadows. But she drops down with a heavy, content sigh two steps below where she guesses Inej is. 

“I’m _beat_ ,” Nina says by way of greeting, holding her hair off her neck and fanning herself with her other hand. “I sure do wish I had a stack of kruge right now.” 

Inej huffs a soft laugh. “Why is that?” 

“Much more effective than my hand to cool me off,” she replies with a wink. 

This time, the laugh sounds startled out of her. “That’s the dream, isn’t it?” 

Nina grins, settling back onto her elbows, shoulders comfortably pressed against Inej’s thigh. 

She’s content to remain like that, watching the other members of the Dregs enjoy their evening of victory. 

Kaz is nowhere in sight, but that suits Nina just fine. He left after giving his congratulations to the team. Inej stuck around, so Nina did too. 

“You don’t have to stay here,” Inej says suddenly. 

Nina tilts her head back to look at her, though it’s upside down and wobbly, so she sits up and turns instead. “What do you mean?” 

“Keeping me company here. Don’t think you need to sit with me.” 

Her laugh is delighted, and she leans in close to Inej. “A secret between me and you? I was hoping you would hide me from the others.” 

There is no immediate response, and when she shifts to get a better look, Inej regards her with a lifted brow. 

Nina lifts one of her own in turn, and nudges Inej’s thigh with her elbow. “You and your gloomy shadows. If I sit here with you, people won’t notice me, or ask me to dance.” 

The responding laugh is muffled as Inej looks away. “I will let you in on another secret between me and you.” She leans over, her hair a dark curtain against the bright room. “Jesper was only joking when he said he’d die if you didn’t dance with him. See? There he goes, bothering someone else.” 

She juts her chin across the common room to where the lanky gunslinger is propped against the wall next to a ruddy-faced youth that Nina doesn’t know the name of. 

Nina chuckles and shakes her head. “I know, I know. But sometimes—” Her voice cracks, and for a moment, she’s surprised by her own vulnerability. She clears her throat and tries again. “Sometimes I don’t like people looking at me.” 

There’s silence between them, a roaring sort of silence that muffles the rest of the room. 

She can feel Inej’s gaze on her, so she avoids it entirely by resting her head on Inej’s thigh. 

Inej will get it out of here sooner or later, but for now, she’s content to let it be. 

Eventually, Inej’s hand strays to her hair, nimble fingers combing through the strands, and Nina closes her eyes to enjoy the soft comfort of the moment. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you yasi for the comments and the beta-read!!


End file.
